Sliding doors or panels which are opened and closed by sliding within a groove or on a track and which are maintained in their generally vertical position during the sliding movement are ubiquitous in residential and commercial construction. However, disadvantages in the use and installation of such panels are well known. First, if the sliding members are heavy, hanging such members is difficult and two or more specialized installers may be required. Second, continued and proper adjustment of the sliding panels is important for proper operation of the panels or doors and, again, skilled labor may not be readily available to perform such adjustments. Third, the weight of such doors may act in an unbalanced way on the bearings if they are not precisely positioned. Thus, one set of bearings may receive more loading than a second set of bearings which affects the operation of the doors and the bearing life. Finally, subsequent service to the sliding members after installation typically requires a number of service personal to raise the doors off the track for cleaning, item replacement and the like. Thereafter, the panel members will require installation and adjustment. All of these attributes are unnecessarily expensive, time consuming and inconvenient for the user.
In a recent attempt to reduce the aforementioned problems, a wedge assembly was attached to the top of the panel or door member. A hanger extended downwardly from the wheel bearings. The hanger was shaped to be complementary to the wedge assembly and was inserted into a cavity within the wedge assembly. A threaded shaft extended through the hanger and rotated within a collar connected to the wedge assembly. By rotating the threaded shaft, the hanger would move relative to the wedge assembly thereby raising or lowering the panel or door relative to the wheel bearings. Such a configuration is disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/175,676 filed Jul. 18, 2008 and based upon provisional Ser. No. 60/951,180 filed Jul. 20, 2007, the contents of which are incorporated by reference.
While this configuration went some way towards solving the aforementioned problems, it gave rise to problems in production. The hanger was asymmetrical so machining was required. In addition, only a limited number of wheel bearing pairs could be used since the distance between the wheel bearings and the hanger bottom decreased over its length. Finally, the play created by moving the hanger within the wedge assembly was not great which called for more card in pre-adjusting the heavy door panels during the installation.